Easy DIY Potting Mix Recipe

Do you want to learn how to make potting mix at home? Want a quality potting mix recipe? Look no further! My early experiences with bagged potting mixes were not happy ones. With a sea of choices, clueless salespeople and confusing labels, I made more than one bad choice. Maybe you have too!

Easy DIY Potting Mix Recipe – learn how to make your own moisture holding, nutrient rich potting mix at home in simple steps.

I fried my seedlings in what I thought from the label was ‘potting mix with fertiliser’ but was actually almost 100% fertiliser. I starved my plants with the next bag that didn’t have any food in it at all. Then another bag was virtually dead dirt that wouldn’t grow anything!

I got so seriously cheesed off wasting time and money with ‘dried arrangements‘ as a result. So I decided to make my own mix. It had to be better than going through all that pain!

Now, I try to be self-reliant and budget conscious where possible, by making my own supplies. If you don’t already, give home made potting mix a go. It’s easy, saves you money and a whole lot of headaches!

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Anne Gibson2022-11-25T11:07:39+10:00Categories: Frugal Gardening, Garden Maintenance, Planning & Design, How To DIY Projects & Recipes|Tags: DIY, Frugal gardening, Healthy soil, Potting Mix, Re-potting plants, Recipe, Seed raising mix, Soil|136 Comments

Revitalising & Re-using Old Potting Mix

Do you garden in containers? If so, revitalising old potting mix and checking your pots on a regular basis are essential routine maintenance activities for ongoing plant health. If you are starting to see problems in your plants, it’s probably time to check what they’re growing in!

This is a trouble shooting article to help you improve your potting mix and solve some common problems.

Revitalising and re-using old potting mix

Can you Reuse Old Potting Mix? If so, HOW?

One of the principles of Frugal Gardening involves RE-USING materials = less waste and reduces our footprint on the planet. It also has the added benefit of saving us money!

Bags of commercial potting mix can be quite expensive particularly if you have lots of pots. It also dries out fast and your plants suffer.

Making your own homemade potting mix make sense (and cents)! Why? Because it lasts longer, provides all your plant needs and contains no nasty chemical additives like water crystals and soil wetters. Re-using your old potting mix definitely is more satisfying, sustainable and cost-effective. (more…)

Anne Gibson2019-02-01T13:30:52+10:00Categories: Container Gardening, Frugal Gardening, Garden Maintenance, Planning & Design, Problem Solving|Tags: Container gardening, Frugal gardening, Potting Mix, Problem Solving, Re-potting plants|22 Comments

How to Restore Waterlogged Pot Plants

Are your plants or soil waterlogged? There are many ways this can happen, but you CAN avoid losing your precious plants!

Solutions to save your plants from drowning, disease and contamination

What is waterlogging and why does it occur?

Waterlogging occurs when the soil and root zone around plants becomes saturated. Basically, the water can’t drain away fast enough. This happens when more rain falls than the soil can absorb or evaporate into the air.

This can happen with an intense period of rainfall such as summer storms. You may live in a heavy rainfall area and have a seasonal problem. If you live on a slope with neighbouring properties above you, you literally may have water flowing through your garden.

Gardens and plants don’t only suffer from waterlogging as a result of extreme weather events. Overwatering especially in pots, poor drainage and heavy clay soils can also contribute to this problem.